High school baseball roundup: Coronado clinches district

Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

MIDLAND - Blake Bass crushed a two-run, go-ahead homer in the fifth inning, Mason Randolph hit three doubles, and Ricky Rushing tossed 31/3 innings of effective relief on Tuesday to lead Coronado to an 8-6 win over Midland that clinched the District 2-5A championship for the Mustangs.

It is the first district championship for Coronado since 2006.

"It's been a grind and the kids have responded very well," head coach Jimmy Webster said. "I think we've shown quite a bit of competitiveness and a whole lot of character through all this. It's been a total group, team effort where everybody we've got has had a hand in it and a role."

Trailing 5-4 through four innings, the Mustangs (22-7-3, 14-2 in 2-5A) took the lead for good when Bass hammered a two-run shot to straightaway center field to go up 6-5. Coronado then put it out of reach in the seventh on RBI singles by Ben Breedlove and Paxton DeLaGarza.

Midland (22-9, 12-4) scored a run in the bottom of the seventh but couldn't close the gap any further.

Rushing entered the game in the fourth after the Bulldogs had taken a 5-4 lead, and he held them scoreless until the seventh, allowing the offense to take over. Rushing (6-3) struck out two and scattered three hits.

DeLaGarza also had a double for Coronado.

Tyler O'Neill started for the Mustangs and was effective, holding the Bulldogs to a run through three innings. That allowed the Coronado offense to build a 4-1 lead with two runs in the first and single runs in the second and third.

But O'Neill ran into trouble in the fifth and was lifted for Rushing, who closed out the win.

On Saturday, Monterey had a chance to climb to the top of the District 2-5A standings. On Tuesday, the Plainsmen were pushed to the brink of being eliminated from playoff contention.

Amarillo, which suffered a 15-run loss against the Plainsmen on April 6, handed them their third consecutive loss. Now Monterey (18-13-1, 10-6 in district) must win its regular-season finale at Odessa on Saturday to finish in a tie for 2-5A's fourth and final playoff berth.

The Plainsmen are one game behind Odessa (18-12-1, 11-5) and San Angelo Central (18-13, 11-5), which are tied for third place. Monterey holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Central, which faces last-place Midland Lee on Saturday, but lost at home against Odessa on April 3.